Upcycling Wood Crates

Looking for wood crate ideas? Look no further! Here are several ideas to upcycle wood crates.

Styling and Salvage

Rupert Blanchard has a very interesting site, recording all his projects and interests. I would say that he has an excellent sense of design and has come up with some great designs.

Hudson Goods

This is a very cool piece, it would make quite a statement in the right setting. The shape of it makes me think of the old fashioned wood baskets that apples for sale were in at the orchard I went to with my mother when I was a kid. I'll be those could be used to make a light fixture too.

Real Simple

Wood crates are great for storage and this idea doesn't require anything besides stacking.

Gore Dean

How neat is this idea? Love the burlap cushion. Metal trim was added to this crate, but if you want to try this at home, you could make it without. How about rope handles?

Vintage Finds

I had to include this console made from plastic crates. It takes a creative eye to do something this stylish with plastic crates!

Funky Junk Interiors

Donna from Funky Junk Interiors has the tools and the know how to create some pretty cool things. She shares it on her site.

Simply Savannah Events

Here's an idea that is simple, functional and looks great. The metal corner pieces (not sure what it's called) add a lot of stability. Think how different it could look if you had crates that had colored graphics on them with colored metal corner pieces plus bright casters! (I'm tempted to do that myself.) Plus a piece like this could be used in many different areas of the house or garage to organize different things.

The Style Handler

This idea to use a cheese crate as a planter is an oldie but a goodie. I like the way these succulents look in it.

Halloween Goblet

Whilst thrifting one day I came upon a giant goblet. (I've always wanted to use that word - we don't say whilst in Wisconsin - I just like the sound of it.) Spotting it's enormous potential I bought it for the sum of $3. I've already put it to it's first use as a Halloween decoration. I placed a skull, plastic bugs, mice and bats inside. Whoo...scary!  I used some of that crafty cobweb and hooked it onto the giant spiders legs. The dangling web is full of baby spiders. I wasn't able to use as much cobweb as I would have liked because of the lack of rough edges to hook it to. I think I need some big candle stick holders, then I could attach the cobweb to all three. Another idea that just occurred to me is to add some battery operated lights. 

I'm going to employ this goblet for the Christmas season also, filling it up with lights and ornaments. Hopefully my brain will remember to post that.


This post is linked to:
The Shabby Creek Cottage

Retro Chair Dilemma

I seem to be buying retro chairs lately. Like a moth to the flame. I don't have room for more chairs, but I can't resist them. What will I do if I see another chair I really like? I need to get a book about the history of chair design too, because I have no idea what I'm looking at, just what I like. But enough trifling, back to the matter at hand.

I bought this chair last week at Hope Gospel Mission Thrift store for $20.00. It's a retro office chair I believe. Thought it would look nice in my living room that I'm trying to modernize.

Please pardon the fact that I haven't cleaned the chrome yet, was too anxious to take a picture  :>) I like the profile and design of this chair. Reupholstering would really bump up the look of this chair, but I'll add it to the list with my Baker Chairs that I scored a while ago.

This is where the dilemma comes in. Today I found this groovy retro chair that I bought off of Craigslist for $50.00. The finish is a bit worn on the arms/legs, but that doesn't bother me for now. The naugahyde is in great shape. The owner told me his wife bought it in the 60's and after some time they replaced the upholstery with naugahyde.

I didn't even notice that the chair was missing one of the steel bars in the back until I got it home. (I'm going to contact the seller to see if she might have it.) It's another detail that I like about this chair. 

I like the profile on this chair and feel that it looks nicer in the space. But I still like the other chair too. Where do I put it? Gak!

I put both of them in front to see if it would work with both, but I don't think it does. What do you think? I should also mention that I don't know the maker of either one of these chairs.

Whenever I take pictures it reminds me that I want to paint the walls a different color, do something to the inside of the bookshelves, get some different baskets... sigh. Why does one thing lead to another? And why do I prefer thrifting and estate sales to getting these jobs done?

I need therapy for my buying of pictures/prints/frames too, but this one is definitely a keeper and already on a wall.

I love this yak with a rose in his mouth! I bought this signed print at an estate sale today for $35.00. The glass looks like the old wavy glass which I don't care for in a modern print. I am going to buy a new frame for it anyway, so that will take care of the problem.

Anyone know this artist?

I hope this doesn't start an obsession with yaks.

What did you find this week?

This post is linked to:

Very Merry Vintage Style

Blue Cricket Design

Her Library Adventures

Hey what's for dinner mom?

The Colorado Lady

Stuff and Nonsense

Country Industrial

Country Industrial

While searching the internet I came across some interesting industrial items from a place called Country Industrial founded by artist Ray Degischer. Degischer who has worked in many creative fields (photography, sculpture, graphic design and landscape design),creates lighting, furniture and vases, to name a few. He uses industrial objects, scrap metal and old wood to create unique items.

Country Industrial

How charming are these gas cap pendant lights? I like the mix of colors.

Country Industrial

Here are two of the many vases offered that are made from steel tubing. I like the one on the right.

Country Industrial

Very cool idea, steel cutout mirror in the shape of California.

Country Industrial

What a great table! The top is made from steel tube.

Country Industrial

I just love this bench made from steel tubing, it's very sculptural.

Country Industrial

Stenciled Steel Vases

Country Industrial

I would never have thought the words sump pump and planter would go together so well. Isn't this a perfect vessel for succulents?

Country Industrial is located in Healdsburg, California at Dragonfly Farm. Dragonfly's organic farming and floral design are the inspiration for Country Industrial's repurposed metal vases.

Thrift Find - Sign Marker Set

Many times the best thrift finds are totally unexpected.

I didn't notice this box in my first pass. It was on a low shelf and somewhat covered up. The age of the box is what caught my attention.

It's an old sign marker set!

It was a bonus to have the label intact inside. It says "Aristocrat Sign Marker, Number 2, Price $4.50." Looks like it was made in Chicago, Illinois. Some of the writing is obscured by the testing of stamps.

This picture is a bit dark. All the letters of the alphabet and numbers are there, punctuation too.

Not sure what I'm going to use it for, but there are many possibilities. The stamps are a nice size; the letters measure 1-1/2" tall. The pointing hand stamp is over 3" long. The price of $2.99 really sweetened the deal!